MINE BLAST KILLS 2 IN CZECHOSLOVAKIA

A coal mine explosion in the Ostrava-Karvina district in northern Moravia killed 22 miners and injured two while eight others were still missing Friday, officials said.

The blast occured Thursday afternoon when a blade of a tunneling machine struck a rock and the resulting sparks ignited a pocket of methane gas, a mine spokesman said.The blast occured between the eighth and ninth levels of the May First mine.